Engineering:Soyuz TM-16

Short description: 1993 Russian crewed spaceflight to Mir

Soyuz TM-16

Operator	Rosaviakosmos
COSPAR ID	1993-005A
Mission duration	179 days, 43 minutes, 45 seconds
Orbits completed	~2,790
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Soyuz 7K-STM No. 101
Spacecraft type	Soyuz-TM
Manufacturer	NPO Energia
Launch mass	7,150 kilograms (15,760 lb)
Crew
Crew size	2 up 3 down
Members	Gennadi Manakov Alexander Poleshchuk
Landing	Jean-Pierre Haigneré
Callsign	Вулка́н (Vulkan - Volcano)
Start of mission
Launch date	24 January 1993, 05:58:05 (1993-01-24UTC05:58:05Z) UTC
Rocket	Soyuz-U2
End of mission
Landing date	22 July 1993, 06:41:50 (1993-07-22UTC06:41:51Z) UTC
Landing site	140 kilometres (87 mi) S of Dzhezkazgan
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	393 kilometres (244 mi)
Apogee altitude	394 kilometres (245 mi)
Inclination	51.6 degrees
Docking with Mir
Docking date	26 January 1993, 07:31:17 UTC
Undocking date	22 July 1993, 3:00:30 UTC
Soyuz programme (Crewed missions)

Soyuz TM-16 was the sixteenth expedition to the Russian Space Station Mir.

The Soyuz-TM crew transports (T - транспортный - Transportnyi - meaning transport, M - модифицированный - Modifitsirovannyi- meaning modified) were fourth generation (1986–2002) Soyuz spacecraft used for ferry flights to the Mir and ISS space stations. It added to the Soyuz-T new docking and rendezvous, radio communications, emergency and integrated parachute/landing engine systems. The new Kurs rendezvous and docking system permitted the Soyuz-TM to maneuver independently of the station, without the station making "mirror image" maneuvers to match unwanted translations introduced by earlier models' aft-mounted attitude control.

Crew

Position	Launching crew	Landing crew
Commander	Gennadi Manakov Second spaceflight
Flight Engineer	Alexander Poleshchuk First spaceflight
Research Cosmonaut	None	Jean-Pierre Haigneré First spaceflight

Mission highlights

Soyuz TM-16 shown with the APAS-89 docking mechanism

APAS-89

16th expedition to Mir.

First Soyuz without a probe and drogue docking system since 1976. It carried an APAS-89 androgynous docking unit different from the APAS-75 unit used for ASTP in 1975, yet similar in general principles. Soyuz-TM 16 used it to dock with an androgynous docking port on the Kristall module. This was a test of the docking system in preparation for dockings by the Space Shuttles with Mir.